


Hacking and Humming

by jooliewrites



Series: Season 2 Coliver Codas [6]
Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Coda, Domestic Fluff, Episode Related, Episode: s02e06 Two Birds One Millstone, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2015-10-30
Packaged: 2018-04-28 22:46:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5108396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jooliewrites/pseuds/jooliewrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The laptop won’t stop humming. </p><p>Oliver closed and put it away on his desk a hour ago and the thing won’t stop humming. Or buzzing. Or whatever that noise is called. </p><p>“Is it normal for that thing to keep going?” Connor asks, leaning his head back against the couch to look over at the laptop sitting innocently on Oliver’s desk. </p><p>+ </p><p>A 2x06 Coliver Coda</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hacking and Humming

The laptop won’t stop humming.

Oliver closed and put it away on his desk a hour ago and the thing won’t stop humming. Or buzzing. Or whatever that noise is called.

“Is it normal for that thing to keep going?” Connor asks, leaning his head back against the couch to look over at the laptop sitting innocently on Oliver’s desk.

“It’s fine,” Oliver says dismissively.

He doesn’t even look over at the computer, eyes still glued on the TV, and Connor tries to just let it go. If Oliver isn’t worried that his laptop sounds like it’s revving up for takeoff then Connor shouldn’t be worried either.

“I mean, it’s just really loud,” Connor says after a minute. “Is it supposed to be that loud?”

“It’s sleeping.”

“But isn’t it supposed to, like, _sleep_ when it’s sleeping?”

When Oliver just stares at him, Connor feels like the biggest idiot in the world. Computers and tech and the internet and all...all that is Oliver’s area of expertise for fuck’s sake; Connor knows he should just trust that everything is fine when Oliver says it’s fine. But then the fan revs again and Connor lifts an arm to point. “See! Why does it sound like that? That doesn’t sound like sleeping.”

“It’s not.” Oliver’s brown is furrowed and he walks over to his desk. He flips up the screen and runs a finger over the trackpad to wake it up. Connor watches while Oliver clicks and types and does other magic before the screen goes dark again and Oliver closes the screen. After a moment, the computer goes quiet and it’s clear Oliver’s turned if off.

“Something’s up,” he says, walking back over to the couch. “The fan may be busted or something. I’ll take it into work tomorrow. Work on it there.”

“Okay,” Connor says.

Oliver settles back on the couch but doesn’t un-pause the TV. The apartment seems eerily quiet now without the hum coming from Oliver’s desk.

Connor picks at imaginary lint on his pants. “Ollie,” he begins. “About the hacking-”

“Connor. It’s fine,” Oliver assures. “I know what I’m doing.”

“No.” Connor’s head falls back against the couch. “It’s not fine. It’s-”

“If I can help you guys figure out who really killed-”

“No. Oliver, it’s-” Connor begins.

“But it those two are innocent-”

Connor’s quick to cut him off. “The Hapstalls-”

“I want to help them and if-” Oliver insists.

“If we can’t use it in court then it’s not really-”

“I want to help you!” Oliver all but shouts. “I want to help _you_ , Connor!”

Over the course of the argument, they’d turned to face each other. Oliver has one knee already bent on the couch and brings the other one up too. He walks the few scant inches over to Connor and sits back on his heels.

“I want to help you,” Oliver says again, quieter this time. “You can’t just mention you might be going to jail for some reason and expect me not to try and help.”

Connor bites back a groan and closes his eyes instead of rolling them. He really wants to argue the point.

Oliver may not have been able to see his own face when he’d told Connor what he’d been able to do but Connor had. Connor’d seen the glee and pride and self-satisfaction shining out of Oliver’s eyes and plastered in his grin.

Oliver may have started looking into the secret baby, Phillip whatever his name was, with good intentions. In the beginning, he probably did think that finding more out about this potential suspect would help Connor. But that hadn’t been why Oliver’d kept at it.

Helping Connor hadn’t been in the forefront of Oliver’s mind when he broke into Phillip’s computer. If it had, Oliver would have realized they only really needed the name. The name and address would be been more than enough to help but Oliver’d kept going. He’d kept at it and, at that point, it’d had nothing to do with Connor. It’d been the puzzle that drove Oliver then. The thrill of the chase. Seeing the wall thrown up in front of you and scaling it despite the odds.

And that, that restless drive to achieve - to _win_ , that Connor understands. He understands the compulsion to do something just because you can. The need to prove that you are smart enough or capable enough or cunning enough to beat something, even if the only one you’re proving anything to is yourself.

Connor recognized it in the almost giddy way Oliver’d told him that Phillip was found. The ‘Look what I did! Look what I was able to do!’ was unspoken but colored ever gesture and laced every word.

Oliver’d hacked into the computer because he simply couldn’t help himself. And Connor understands that even as it terrifies him.

Connor understands how powerful things like this make you feel. How capable and untouchable Oliver feels at this moment. How the thrill of victory is blinding Oliver so he can’t see just how close that edge really is.

Connor looks up to catch Oliver’s gaze and cups Oliver’s cheek. “I don’t want anything to happen to you,” he whispers.

“Nothing will.” Oliver turns to kiss Connor’s palm and whispers against it. “I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“I’m not.” Oliver kisses him, soft and sweet. “It’s okay. It’s all going to be fine.” 

Connor blinks back a sting in his eyes and shakes his head once. He trails a reverent thumb over Oliver’s cheek and is suddenly, and inexplicably, exhausted. He’s tired of this argument, he’s tired of lying and giving half-truths. Why can’t it just be simple for them, for once? Why can’t they just be able to  _enjoy_  each other at the end of the day? Why does work and Annalise and all of that have to sully everything? 

With a hand to the back of Oliver’s neck, Connor pulls Oliver down. Tugging Oliver on top of him, Connor stretches out beneath and kisses him. Screw the worry and the stress of it. Tonight, Connor’s enjoying this while he still can.

+

Much, much later, Connor wakes up in their bed. Oliver’s snoring lightly beside him and the apartment’s dark and still. Connor fights to untangle his legs from the sheet and slips out of bed to grab a glass of water. 

It isn’t until he’s heading back to bed, sipping from the water glass as he pads around the apartment, that he hears it. 

The laptop, the one Oliver turned off hours ago, is humming again. 

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://ramblesandreblogs.tumblr.com/)


End file.
